MURRAY, Utah, March 11, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Police in Murray arrested a 19-year-old man and his pregnant girlfriend after a car chase reaching speeds of 80 mph.
Lt. Kent Stokes, West Valley City Police Department, said that on Friday evening at approximately 6:40 p.m., one of his agency’s officers was following what he believed to be a stolen car with a tag that matched a vehicle on the department’s hot list.
“He (the officer) attempted to stop vehicle for a traffic violation and it fled from him,” Stokes said. “Speeds and conditions at that time with the traffic didn’t allow us to pursue very long, so the pursuit was terminated and officers saturated the area and located this vehicle in a carport.
“Then, while searching the neighborhood, they were able to find the driver and the passenger, who was a pregnant female who was the suspect’s girlfriend, so they had fled the vehicle.”
They abandoned the car in a carport at 773 Oakmont Ave., Murray.
“The traffic in some areas got thick enough where they just terminated it for safety and that’s when he just jumped into this neighborhood here and he just parked in some house he didn’t even know, and started to knock on doors, and we started getting calls to dispatch,” Stokes said.
No one let the couple in, and police were able to apprehend them, Stokes said.
“In interviewing with the driver, we did confirm he had a warrant as a juvenile, which is now active as an adult warrant, and that’s the reason he fled at the time,” Stokes said. “The vehicle was not stolen.”
Stokes said the male, who was identified as Juan Rivas, 19, will be booked on felony fleeing charges and on an active warrant for his arrest, as well as outstanding burglary charges. The female passenger will face a misdemeanor charge.
